Point of View/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby. Moby sits in a tree, writing in a note pad, while Tim struggles to carry a big, heavy rock. Tim grunts. NARRATOR: Tim carried rocks across the yard, sweating in the hot sun. Moby’s attention is drawn to a cat walking along a fence and meowing. NARRATOR: From a nearby fence, a cat meowed. Tim stops walking with the rock to address Moby. TIM: Hey! Get down here and help me! Moby makes eye contact with Tim, but then continues writing. NARRATOR: Despite Tim's whining, Moby remained in his tree, continuing his important work. Tim looks at a letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, What is point of view? I mean, when it comes to writing? From Josh. Well, point of view is the position from which a narrator sees and understands what is happening. There are five main points of view that you come across in writing. First person point of view is when the narrator, usually the main character, is telling the story from his or her own perspective. Three teenagers are shown. Two are having a conversation. The third watches them talk. Two dotted lines are drawn from this teenager's eyes to the two conversing. Text reads: first person. MOBY: --Beep. Moby's lights flash and he holds up a copy of The Book of Tim. TIM: Whatcha got there? Ah, I remember this. Tim is shown at a classroom desk screaming as the girl behind him pulls at his hair. TIM: I was sitting in class, minding my own business, when Dana reached out and pulled my hair —for no reason! Tim reads from The Book of Tim and then addresses the viewer once again. TIM: Yeah, that's first person all right. You can, uh, really feel how upset I was. The first person narrator is a character in the story. The word "I" is a definite indication that you’re dealing with a first person narrator. The narrator, who actually is me in this case, is directly involved in what's going on. That involvement means that a first person narrator is not totally reliable. Everything that you know about the story is through his or her eyes, so if the narrator doesn't know something, then the reader can’t know either. The profile of a girl's head is shown in a small illuminated circle while the rest of the screen is dark. You can see that someone is looking around a dark room with a flashlight. The beam jumps to the left to show a man in a suit with a mustache. The beam from the flashlight darts back and forth between the two people and then down to the surface of a desk between them that has a piece of paper on it. TIM: She did pull my hair, though. I swear. MOBY: --Beep. TIM: Second person point of view is not as common, at least in writing. The second person narrator tells a story using the word "you", which places the reader immediately and personally into the story. Two people are shown standing close together. One is talking while pointing his finger at the other. Two dotted lines extend from the eyes of the person pointing and speaking to the other person's face. Text reads: second person. MOBY: --Beep. TIM: Ahem. Your alarm clock shatters the early Monday silence. You hit the snooze button and pull the covers up over your head, hoping for just a few more minutes of sleep. Suddenly, it hits you: Your science project is due today! A digital alarm clock shows six o'clock in the morning. The alarm is going off. Two hands are shown pulling up the blankets. A calendar shows an "x" marked over one of the days. MOBY: --Beep! TIM: No, that's just part of the story… Let's move on to third person point of view—it's a lot less confusing. There are three types of third person point of view. The first one is the simplest: third person objective. In the third person objective point of view, the narrator isn't part of the story. He can tell the reader what happens to the characters, but he can't go inside their heads and reveal what they are thinking or feeling. Two people are shown looking at something together. A ghostlike person watches from behind them. This person is white and has a human form, but is not colored in or detailed like the other two. Text reads: third person objective. TIM: "The orange robot sat in the tree, watching the boy struggle with the heavy stones." Moby looks down from a tree at Tim carrying the heavy rock. TIM: In the third person limited point of view, the narrator focuses his or her attention through one character, so the reader not only sees what's going on with the characters, but also knows what one particular character is thinking. Two people are shown looking at something together. A ghostlike person watches from behind them. This person is white and has a human form, but is not colored in or detailed like the other two. A dotted line extends from the ghostlike person into the head of one of the other characters. Two dotted lines extend from this character's eyes as a continuation of the line coming from the first. Text reads: third person limited. TIM: "The orange robot sat in the tree, watching the boy struggle with the heavy stones. The robot wondered if the boy saw him." Moby looks down from a tree at Tim carrying the heavy rock. Moby's back can be seen, but the camera zooms in on Tim as the focus. But for a brief moment returns to a closer perspective of the back of Moby’s head. TIM: With third person limited narration, the narrator only knows as much as the character that he focuses his attention through. It's very similar to first person, actually. The voice is a little more detached but the experience is similar. The third person omniscient narrator is really detached. "Omniscient" means all knowing. So, unlike the third person limited narrator, the omniscient narrator has access to the thoughts and feelings of every character in the story. Five young people are standing together and talking. Above them, the face of a godlike figure looks down over them. Dotted lines extend from the eyes of this floating face out over the entire group. Text reads: third person omniscient. MOBY: --Beep. TIM: No, sitting above me in the tree and writing does not make you a third person omniscient narrator. You're actually there, physically watching me, and you can't tell what I'm thinking. It's almost like the third person omniscient narrator is watching the scene from another world, like how we'd watch ants. An eye opens up from the blue sky and looks around. TIM: Of course, we don't know what ants are thinking. But an omniscient narrator would be able to say exactly what we're thinking and feeling at all times! NARRATOR: "Tim and his robot friend Moby stood on their lawn, explaining the concept of point of view. While Tim was eager to get his point across, Moby couldn't help thinking about running away and digging holes in the yard." MOBY: --Beep. Tim: The omniscient narrator is trustworthy and reliable. They see everything and tell it like it is. MOBY: --Beep. Text reads: choosing a point of view. TIM: Well, choosing a point of view to tell your story is important. First person is appropriate when you want the reader to really identify with the narrator. Second person draws the reader in, but in a different way. It’s like talking directly to someone. Third person limited lets your readers watch your main character carefully and draw their own conclusions about him or her. And third person omniscient can give your reader an objective overview of your story. Images of different points of view appear on screen. First, a cone is drawn from the eyes of one person watching two others. Second, a cone is drawn from the eyes of one person watching another. Third, a dotted line connects a floating head to the head of a person who is watching two others. Fourth, a cone is drawn from the eyes of a floating head out over a crowd of people. TIM: Whatever you choose, you want to stick to one point of view. Generally speaking, switching points of view can be confusing. The pile of rocks when Tim is trying to move is shown up close. TIM: Now, how about you help me move these rocks? MOBY: --Beep. --Beep. Moby points up to the sky. TIM: The omniscient narrator told you not to help me? Oh boy. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts